Click here to view the digital version of the annual bereavement supplement from The Monitor, which this year features stories on perinatal hospice, a personal account of bereavement ministry, a local author who shares her story on being a first responder and more.More ...Thursday, May 31, 2018

It is difficult enough to lose a child, but receiving a terminal diagnosis for your unborn child can result in an unprecedented sense of grief.

Barbara Keith and her family know all too well how difficult that can be. Keith, a lifelong member of St. Mary Parish, Middletown, and her husband, Ian, were given the devastating news halfway through her pregnancy in 2011 that their unborn daughter had Trisomy 18, a rare chromosome disorder. The Keiths were told that their baby, Joan, would likely not survive and that perhaps they should consider an abortion.More ...Thursday, May 31, 2018

Doris Hudak has learned a few valuable lessons during her 35 years in the field of bereavement ministry, the most important of which is that finding the right words to say to survivors after the death of a loved one is not the most important goal.More ...Thursday, May 31, 2018

After a successful first book on courage in the face of fear and grieving, Spring Lake first responder Andrea Jo Rodgers is back with “On Heaven’s Doorstep: God’s Help in Times of Crisis,” which features 30 true stories.More ...Thursday, May 31, 2018

Nothing brings with it more opportunities for joy, and the unexpected, than spending time with your grandchild.

On Easter morning, my five-year-old granddaughter brought me a toy that was not working. She asked me to change the batteries, but we needed a special screwdriver and not one of her uncles knew where this magical tool might be.

Sometimes it comes by way of a life-changing phone call: “There’s been an accident…” At other times, it starts with a diagnosis: “We’ve gotten the results of the biopsy…” or sometimes simply by the passage of so much time: “I don’t think Grandma has much time left.”More ...Wednesday, March 15, 2017